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It's great to see that old footage. I was just reading about The Game in 1919 this morning, in Bob Hunter's book: Chic - The extraordinary rise of Ohio State football and the tragic schoolboy athlete who made it happen".
That's the only time Harley played against TSUN. They left the Western Conference (Big Ten) in 1907 because they objected to the conference implementing rules designed to give more faculty control over athletics. The conference was initiating limits on the number of games, 3-years per player, and eliminating training tables. TSUN didn't return to the conference until 1917, and tOSU didn't play them from 1913 (the year tOSU joined the conference) until 1918, due to a rule called 'non-intercourse'. Apparently that meant that the other members wouldn't have any [censored]ing thing to do with TSUN.
And in 1918, Chic was in the service, so he only met the Vulvarines that single time in 1919. Coach Wilce was practicing for TSUN the week before The Game - when Kentucky was scheduled - that sounds familiar, doesn't it? tOSU then beat Kentucky 49-0, and during the game they sold enough 'tags' to raise the money to send the tOSU band up north for The Game.
The week before The Game, Wilce closed practices, stretching a canvas across the fence at the south end of the practice field; and enlisting trusted students to keep guard. Practices weren't open to the public in those days, but special attrention was used that week. Members of the press and others who often were present at practices were not allowed in.
Before a certain new play was run, everyone on the practice field had to show their passes again. This suspicion during practices also sounds quite familiar.
There was a full crowd of 28,000 at Ferry Field on October 25, 1919, an estimated 5,000 of them tOSU fans (no, I wasn't there). After tOSU fumbled the opening kickoff, they held TSUN without a score, then later in the first quarter got on the board by recovering a blocked TSUN punt in the end zone. After a TSUN field goal made it 7-3 at the half, Harley scored from 42 yards out on a play later described like this by TSUN coach Fielding Yost:
"Harley's change of pace, straight-arming, and shifting of the hips as he shook off those tackles in making his run for a touchdown was as pretty a piece of work as I ever saw any player do. Harley threw off my best tacklers when making that run."
Down 13-3, TSUN turned to a passing attack. They attempted 16 passes, and completed nary a one, unless you're counting the three caught by Buckeyes, two of them by Chic.
After The Game, Fielding "Hurry Up" Yost, who had been at TSUN for 19 years and had coached them to 5 undefeated seasons and multiple MNCs, did something he had never done before: he went to the opposing team's locker room after a loss, and said this:
"You deserve your victory. You fought brilliantly. You boys gave a good exhibition of football strategy, and while I'm sorry, deadfully sorry, that we lost, I want to congratulate you. And you, Mr. Harley, I believe you are one of the finest little machines I have ever seen. Again, I want to congratulate Ohio State."
tOSU and TSUN had played 15 times before that, but with Chic Harley in 1919, it was the first time it was The Game.
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05-07-2009, 03:03 AM
Amazon.com: Chic: The Extraordinary Rise of Ohio... 
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